Conventionally, a white board is equipped with a printing means that optically scans the contents of proceedings (image information) written on the whiteboard with such a writing material as Magic Marker (registered trademark), and that prints the obtained image information on a thermal paper. The contents of proceedings (image information) written on the whiteboard is printed on the thermal paper by using the printing means after the conference ended, and copies of the contents of proceedings are distributed to participants in the conference.
At a conference using a conventional whiteboard, the printed contents of proceedings may have to be turned to electronic data after the end of the conference, using a word processor, etc.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-56747 discloses an electronic conference system which enables to write the contents of proceedings directly on a large display in a free format using a direct input means (e.g., touch pen), and to turn all of the contents to electronic data in order to facilitate document management, distribution of the contents of proceedings to participants, contents processing, etc., that are carried out after the end of a conference.
In a case of such an electronic conference system, it is assumed that the system is used in a conference room with a certain space, and that the display has a height within a person's reach and a length that is not so long as to be obstacle for a person to operate it.
The size of a display device, such as a liquid crystal display, however, has been increasing these days. This leads to such a problem that when a large display device is placed in a spacious place, such as a university lecture room and an international conference room, a presenter or lecturer faces trouble of not being able to reach the upper part of the display, of moving to the end of the display to write, etc., in manipulating the display device.